The Match Factory Girl

Aki Kaurismaki
1990

The final installment of Kaurismaki's "Proletarian Trilogy," is the most taut and stylistically tight installment in the series, but is also the least appealing, with it's lifeless nihilism left mostly unpunctuated by the humor critics have been so quick to over-praise. Kaurismaki standy Kati Outinen stars as Iris, the titular factory worker living an utterly joyless existence cooking for, and cleaning up after, her mother and stepfather. After being jilted in love and then kicked out by her parents Iris finally becomes proactive in exacting a deliciously macabre revenge. Upon reflection it's easy to remember what makes "The Match Factory Girl" special. Outinen puts in a brilliantly reserved performance - a stoic poker-face almost completely unreadable makes those rare moments when we're let in all the more rewarding. While Iris's inner life is mostly off limits one still feels a tremendous amount of intimacy in the time spent with her. The few pleasures she experiences, a beer in a cafe, and the dubious excitement of a one night stand, seem all the sweeter. Kaurismaki is best at tapping into the absurdity of "being cool," and his pessimistic sense of humor is usually masterful. The problem with "The Match Factory Girl" is that these sensibilities are pushed over the edge into Todd Solondz-misanthropy territory. It's obvious from the get-go that there's no hope for Iris, and if the game is rigged than why bother playing?